Red-chested Swallow
Encyclopedia
The Red-chested Swallow (Hirundo lucida) is a small non-migratory
passerine
bird
found in Africa
in West Africa, the Congo
basin and Ethiopia
. It has a long, deeply forked tail
and curved, pointed wings.
It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Barn Swallow
, which it closely resembles. Red-chested Swallow differs in being slightly smaller than its migratory relative
. It also has a narrower blue breast band, and the adult has shorter tail streamers. In flight, it looks paler underneath than Barn Swallow. Although the adult Red-chested Swallow is reasonably distinctive, juvenile can be confused with the juvenile Barn Swallow, which also has short tail streamers. However, juvenile Red-chested Swallow has a narrower breast band and more white in the tail.
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
found in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in West Africa, the Congo
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
basin and Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. It has a long, deeply forked tail
Tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...
and curved, pointed wings.
It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
The Barn Swallow is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas...
, which it closely resembles. Red-chested Swallow differs in being slightly smaller than its migratory relative
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
. It also has a narrower blue breast band, and the adult has shorter tail streamers. In flight, it looks paler underneath than Barn Swallow. Although the adult Red-chested Swallow is reasonably distinctive, juvenile can be confused with the juvenile Barn Swallow, which also has short tail streamers. However, juvenile Red-chested Swallow has a narrower breast band and more white in the tail.